Various information processing systems have been developed as a result of the rapid development which have taken place in the information industry in recent years. Methods of recording and apparatus compatible with these information processing systems have been developed and adopted. Thermal transfer recording methods, i.e., recording methods of this type, involve the use of an apparatus which is light and compact, with which there is little noise, and which has excellent operability and maintenance characteristics. Moreover, since they also allow coloring to be achieved easily, these methods are the most widely used. Thermal transfer recording methods can be broadly classified into two types, namely, thermofusion types and thermomobile types. In the latter case, a thermal transfer dye providing material which has, on a support, a dye providing layer which contains a binder and a thermomobile dye is laminated with a thermal transfer image receiving material, heat is applied from the support side of the dye providing material, the thermomobile dye is transferred to the recording medium (thermal transfer image receiving material) in the form of a pattern corresponding to the heat pattern which has been applied, and an image is formed in this way.
Moreover, a thermomobile dye is, for example, a dye which can be transferred from a thermal transfer dye providing material to a thermal transfer image receiving material by sublimation or diffusion in a medium.
However, thermal transfer image receiving materials for use in thermomobile type thermal transfer recording methods have the following disadvantages.
When the thermal transfer dye providing material and the thermal transfer image receiving material are superimposed upon each other and heat is applied thereto to transfer a thermomobile dye from the thermal transfer dye providing material to the image receiving material, both materials are thermally fused to each other. As a result, there is the possibility that the dye providing layer of the dye providing material is peeled off and sticks to the surface (to be transferred) of the image receiving material, or sometimes there may be a problem in that the image receiving material can no longer be conveyed and the printer is stopped. This problem is caused remarkably when applied voltage is elevated and thermal transfer is carried out at elevated temperatures to obtain sufficient transfer density.
Image receiving materials generally are stacked, before use, on top of each other in the form of several tens of sheets, and are fed one by one during the course of thermal transfer recording to thereby carry out printing. However, when slipperiness between image receiving materials is insufficient, a problem exists in that many sheets of the materials are fed at one time. The surfaces of the image receiving materials are charged with electricity under low humidity conditions in particular, and the faces and the backs of the image receiving materials are pulled by each other by static electricity, so that many sheets of the materials are liable to be fed at one time.
Further, there is the problem that when the image receiving materials are piled up after thermal transfer, the transferred dye is re-transferred to other image receiving materials to cause staining, that is, to cause color migration by re-transfer.
Furthermore, there is the problem that when the thermal transfer image receiving materials after transfer are stored over a long period of time, the image is liable to be faded.